Our grants

The Ruth Hayman Trust awards small grants to support the education and training of adults who have come to settle in the UK, and whose first language is not English and cannot afford the full fees for their studies.

We support those suffering severe financial and social hardship, in particular refugees, asylum seekers, survivors of modern slavery, domestic violence and trafficking.

Because of such high demand for our grants, we are not accepting applications for any university course fees, unless the course leads directly to employment. We never give grants for PhDs.

We award a maximum of £500, but the average is about £150. We are usually only able to award a grant for part of the fees. We do not normally make more than one award per course in any academic year.

What can a grant pay for?

registration and course fees

exam fees

Disclosure and Barring Service (DBS) fees

costs of joining professional bodies if these are essential for participation on the course.

dictionaries (kindly donated by Oxford University Press and sent out 4 times a year) and essential textbooks (thanks to a generous grant from the Good Gifts Catalogue)

equipment essential to the course such as chief's knives, hairdresser's scissors, steel-capped boots for bricklaying apprentices

travel for disabled students with an accompanying doctor's note

What a grant cannot pay for

travel costs (except for disabled students with an accompanying statement from a doctor)

computers

accommodation

childcare

living expenses

university education unless the course leads directly to employment

Note: Cheques for fees will normally be made out to colleges or other institutions. If fees have to be paid on line we will ask you to pay yourself and send a receipt dated after your application. We can then send you a personal cheque.

Cheques for equipment and the Rose Grant Award will usually be made personally to you.

If you pay the fees yourself after you send your application and we send you an award, please return the cheque and send a copy of the receipt for your payment. We will then send you a cheque in your name. If you do not have a bank account say whose name we should put on the cheque.

We cannot accept applications where the fees have already been paid before the date of the application.

Who can apply

You may apply for a Ruth Hayman Trust grant if you:

are an adult who has come to settle in the UK

are resident in the UK, either as a citizen of the UK or EU, spouse of a citizen, or an asylum seeker, or refugee.

are enrolled on a course (or about to enrol) at a state-funded college or university (private colleges or institutions are only acceptable if the course is only available in specialist private training organisations.)

can provide an academic reference from someone who has taught, or currently teaches or advises you, who can say this course is appropriate for you

speak English as a second or other language; and

can show that you are in financial need

You cannot apply for a Ruth Hayman Trust grant if you:

are an undergraduate or postgraduate student

in the UK as an overseas student

are studying on a distance learning course (unless you are completely unable to travel to a place of learning or are able to show that a distance learning course is best suited to your individual needs.)

When to apply

The awards committee of the trust meets about five or six times a year. The closing date for applications is listed on the website. We send out cheques about a month after the closing date for applications.

Apply for your course 2-3 months before your course starts. For example, if your course starts in September, you should apply for a grant in June.